Historical browsing session management

ABSTRACT

A remote browsing process is directed to the generation and management of a remote browse session at a network computing and storage provider. A client computing device provides a search request to a network computing and storage provider. Responsive to the search request, the network computing and storage provider provides search results corresponding to historical content representations associated with content previously requested by the client computing device or a user associated with the client computing device. The network computing and storage provider may determine the search results based on a navigation path associated with a previous request for content, or based on any number of other factors.

BACKGROUND

Generally described, computing devices and communication networks can beutilized to exchange information. In a common application, a computingdevice can request content from another computing device via thecommunication network. For example, a user at a computing device, suchas a personal computing device, can utilize a software browserapplication, typically referred to as a “browser,” to request a Web pagefrom a server computing device via the Internet. In such embodiments,the requesting computing device can be referred to as a client computingdevice and the server computing device can be referred to as a contentprovider.

With reference to an illustrative example, a requested Web page, ororiginal content, may be associated with a number of additionalresources, such as images or videos, that are to be displayed with theWeb page. In one specific embodiment, the additional resources of theWeb page are identified by a number of embedded resource identifiers,such as uniform resource locators (“URLs”). In turn, software on theclient computing devices, such as a browser, typically processesembedded resource identifiers to generate requests for the content.Accordingly, in order to satisfy a content request, one or more contentproviders will generally provide client computing devices dataassociated with the Web page as well as the data associated with theembedded resources.

Once the client computing device obtains the Web page and associatedadditional resources, the content may be processed in a number of stagesby the software browser application or other client computing deviceinterface. For example, and with reference to the above illustration,the software browser application may parse the Web page to processvarious HTML layout information and references to associated resources,may identify and process Cascading Style Sheets (“CSS”) information, mayprocess and instantiate various Javascript code associated with the Webpage, may construct a native object model to represent one or morecomponents of the Web page, and may calculate various layout and displayproperties of the processed content for presentation to a user.

Although many browsers maintain a historical record of Web pages andnetwork resources viewed at the client computing device, browsers tendto maintain limited data about the previously viewed content, often dueto storage constraints at the client computing device. Generally, storedinformation about a previously viewed Web page consists of a URL orother reference to the page, a page title, and/or other basicidentifying information. Accordingly, accessing a record of a previouslyviewed Web page may cause the browser to retrieve the latest version ofthe Web page or network resource based on the stored URL, and will notdisplay the Web page as it was originally presented at the time ofviewing. Further, a user accessing a browser on a different clientcomputing device may not be able to access historical records based onbrowsing from the first client computing device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrative of a content delivery environmentincluding a number of client computing devices, content provider, acontent delivery network service provider, and a network computingprovider;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of a new browse sessionrequest from a client computing device to a network computing provider;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of a request for a networkresource from a network computing provider to a content provider;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of one or more requestscorresponding to one or more embedded resources from a network computingprovider to a content provider and content delivery network;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of a historical contentrepresentation, browse session data, and user interaction data between anetwork computing provider and client computing device;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of an additional new browsesession request from a client computing device to a network computingprovider;

FIG. 7 is a user interface diagram depicting an illustrative browserinterface and display of browse session content;

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting illustrative browser content processingactions as a series of processing subsystems;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrative of a new browse session routineimplemented by network computing provider;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrative of a client new browse sessioninteraction routine implemented by a client computing device;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrative of a process user interactionroutine implemented by a client computing device;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of the content delivery environment of FIG. 1illustrating the generation and processing of a new historical contentrequest from a client computing device to a network computing provider;

FIG. 13 is a branch diagram illustrative of a network resourcenavigation path;

FIG. 14 is a branch diagram illustrative of a network resourcenavigation path depicting network resource reference levels; and

FIG. 15 is a user interface diagram depicting an illustrative historicalbrowse search interface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally described, the present disclosure is directed to thegeneration and management of a remote application session and historicalbrowse content between client computing devices and content providers inconjunction with a network computing provider. Specifically, aspects ofthe disclosure will be described with regard to the generation andmanagement of historical browse content records between the clientcomputing device and the network computing provider, and the indexingand searching of historical browse content records. Although aspects ofthe embodiments described in the disclosure will focus, for the purposeof illustration, on the management of a remote browse session and ahistorical browse storage component, one skilled in the art willappreciate that the techniques disclosed herein may be applied to anynumber of software processes or applications, and may be applied topreserving historical content of any number of different document anddata types. Further, although various aspects of the disclosure will bedescribed with regard to illustrative examples and embodiments, oneskilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosed embodiments andexamples should not be construed as limiting.

With reference to an illustrative example, a user may cause a clientcomputing device to load a software browser application (henceforthreferred to as a “browser”) for accessing content provided by one ormore content providers. In one embodiment, the browser may have acontent display area or pane for displaying the accessed network contentin addition to one or more local interface components, such as toolbars,menus, buttons, or other user interface controls. Local interfacecomponents may be managed and controlled by the software browserapplication or any other process executing or implemented locally at theclient computing device. Illustratively, managing user interfacecontrols locally may allow for a responsive user interface, asinteractions by the user are processed locally on the client computingdevice.

Subsequent to the browser being loaded, a user or automated browserprocess may cause the client computing device to transmit a request toaccess content from a content provider by establishing a browse sessionwith a network computing provider across a private or public network.The browse session request may include information identifying one ormore sources for the requested content. For example, the user may selector enter a URL, (e.g., http://www.xyzwebsite.com) into a browser window,causing the client computing device to transmit a request for a newbrowse session to the network computing provider, including the selectedURL. The browse session request may further include identificationinformation, such as information identifying the user, browser, orclient computing device.

In an illustrative embodiment, the network computing provider mayprocess the identification information included in the browse sessionrequest to determine a historical browse storage component to associatewith the browse session. The historical browse storage component maystore historical resource representations, including representations ofcontent requested by the client computing device. Further, andresponsive to the browse session request received from the clientcomputing device, the network computing provider may instantiate orcause to have instantiated one or more computing components associatedwith the network computing provider that will host a browser softwareapplication. For example, the network computing provider caninstantiate, or cause to have instantiated, an instance of a virtualmachine that includes a software browser application capable ofrequesting resources from a communication network.

Using the instantiated network computing components, the networkcomputing provider may request the identified network resource(s) fromone or more content providers, a content delivery network, or a local orassociated cache component or data store. For example, the browsersoftware application on the instantiated network computing component canprocess a primary network resource and then generate additional contentrequests for content identified in one or more embedded resourceidentifiers (e.g. pictures, video files, etc.). Illustratively, in thecase of other non-browser applications, network resources, or content,may include any file type or format known in the art and supported bythe specific software application.

Having obtained the requested content (e.g., the requested networkresource and embedded resources), the network computing provider mayidentify a client remote session browse configuration specifying aremote session communication protocol for use in transmitting therequested content, user interaction data, intermediate processingresults, and other information between the browser being executed on theclient computing device and the browser being executed at theinstantiated network computing component on the computing and storageprovider. The information exchanged between the browser on theinstantiated network computing component and the browser on the clientcomputing device can be generally referred to as “browser sessioninformation.” The network computing provider may additionally make anynumber of further content requests and/or cause the instantiation ofadditional remote sessions in order to retrieve and process any contentreferenced by the requested content (e.g., Web pages linked to by therequested Web page). Any number of linked resources up to a specified ordetermined depth may be retrieved and provided to the historical browsestorage component for storage and indexing.

In addition to specifying a remote session communication protocol fortransmitting information between the client computing device and theinstantiated network computing component, in one embodiment, theidentified client remote session browse configuration may specify thatone or more processing actions to be performed on the requested contentare to be performed at the network computing provider rather than, or inaddition to, at the client computing device A Web page, for example, maybe parsed and processed to process various HTML layout information andreferences to associated resources or embedded content, such as CSSstyle sheets and Javascript, as well as embedded content objects such asimages, video, audio, etc. Each object or piece of code may be parsedand processed before a representative object model corresponding to theweb page may be constructed and processed further for layout anddisplay. The client remote session browse configuration may identifywhich of these actions are to be performed at a network computingcomponent and which are to be performed at the client computing device.

The historical browse storage component associated with the remotesession may specify an additional historical remote session browseconfiguration. This historical remote session browse configuration mayspecify a remote session communication protocol for encapsulating andproviding intermediate processing results from the network computingcomponent to the historical browse storage component, and may furtherspecify any processing actions to be performed at the network computingcomponent as described above with reference to the client remote sessionbrowse configuration. Illustratively, processing results correspondingto a representation of content stored at a historical browse storagecomponent may be referred to as a historical content representation.Illustratively, remote session communication protocol and/or split ofprocessing specified in the historical remote session browseconfiguration may be the same or different as the determined clientremote session browse configuration.

The client computing device and the instantiated network computingcomponent may exchange processing results via browser sessioninformation (e.g., state data or display data representing the requestedcontent result) in accordance with the client remote session browseconfiguration. The network computing component may further providehistorical content representation of the requested content to thehistorical browse storage component for storage in accordance with theclient remote session browse configuration.

At a subsequent point in time, the client computing device may searchthe stored content at the historical browse storage component. In oneembodiment, a client computing device may search the stored contentbased on a specific cached resource or a historical browse session ofinterest. In a further embodiment, a client computing device may searchonly stored content that the user did not view in the original browsesession (e.g., resources linked to by viewed resources and stored at thehistorical browse storage component).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrative of a networked computingenvironment 100 for the management and processing of content requests.As illustrated in FIG. 1, the networked computing environment 100includes a number of client computing devices 102 (generally referred toas clients) for requesting content and content processing from a contentprovider 104, CDN service provider 106, or network computing provider107. In an illustrative embodiment, the client computing devices 102 cancorrespond to a wide variety of computing devices, including personalcomputing devices, laptop computing devices, hand-held computingdevices, terminal computing devices, mobile devices (e.g., mobilephones, tablet computing devices, etc.), wireless devices, variouselectronic devices and appliances and the like. In an illustrativeembodiment, the client computing devices 102 include necessary hardwareand software components for establishing communications over acommunication network 108, such as a wide area network or local areanetwork. For example, the client computing devices 102 may be equippedwith networking equipment and browser software applications thatfacilitate communications via the Internet or an intranet. The clientcomputing devices 102 may have varied local computing resources, such ascentral processing units and architectures, memory, mass storage,graphics processing units, communication network availability andbandwidth, etc.

The networked computing environment 100 can also include a contentprovider 104 in communication with the one or more client computingdevices 102 or other service providers (e.g., CDN service provider 106,network computing provider 107, etc.) via the communication network 108.The content provider 104 illustrated in FIG. 1 corresponds to a logicalassociation of one or more computing devices associated with a contentprovider. Specifically, the content provider 104 can include a webserver component 110 corresponding to one or more server computingdevices for obtaining and processing requests for content (such as Webpages) from the client computing devices 102 or other service providers.The content provider 104 can further include an origin server component112 and associated storage component 114 corresponding to one or morecomputing devices for obtaining and processing requests for networkresources from the CDN service provider. The content provider 104 canstill further include an application server computing device 111, suchas a data streaming server, for processing streaming content requests.One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the contentprovider 104 can be associated with various additional computingresources, such as additional computing devices for administration ofcontent and resources, DNS name servers, and the like. For example,although not illustrated in FIG. 1, the content provider 104 can beassociated with one or more DNS name server components that would beauthoritative to resolve client computing device DNS queriescorresponding to a domain of the content provider.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the networked computing environment100 can further include a CDN service provider 106 in communication withthe one or more client computing devices 102 and other service providersvia the communication network 108. The CDN service provider 106illustrated in FIG. 1 corresponds to a logical association of one ormore computing devices associated with a CDN service provider.Specifically, the CDN service provider 106 can include a number of Pointof Presence (“POP”) locations 116, 122, 128 that correspond to nodes onthe communication network 108. Each CDN POP 116, 122, 128 includes a DNScomponent 118, 124, 130 made up of a number of DNS server computingdevices for resolving DNS queries from the client computers 102. EachCDN POP 116, 122, 128 also includes a resource cache component 120, 126,132 made up of a number of cache server computing devices for storingresources from content providers and transmitting various requestedresources to various client computers. The DNS components 118, 124, and130 and the resource cache components 120, 126, 132 may further includeadditional software and/or hardware components that facilitatecommunications including, but not limited to, load balancing or loadsharing software/hardware components.

In an illustrative embodiment, the DNS component 118, 124, 130 andresource cache component 120, 126, 132 are considered to be logicallygrouped, regardless of whether the components, or portions of thecomponents, are physically separate. Additionally, although the CDN POPs116, 122, 128 are illustrated in FIG. 1 as logically associated with theCDN service provider 106, the CDN POPs will be geographicallydistributed throughout the communication network 108 in a manner to bestserve various demographics of client computing devices 102.Additionally, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that theCDN service provider 106 can be associated with various additionalcomputing resources, such as additional computing devices foradministration of content and resources, and the like.

With further continued reference to FIG. 1, the networked computingenvironment 100 can also include a network computing provider 107 incommunication with the one or more client computing devices 102, the CDNservice provider 106, and the content provider 104 via the communicationnetwork 108. The network computing provider 107 illustrated in FIG. 1also corresponds to a logical association of one or more computingdevices associated with a network computing provider. Specifically, thenetwork computing provider 107 can include a number of Point of Presence(“POP”) locations 134, 142, 148 that correspond to nodes on thecommunication network 108. Each POP 134, 142, 148 includes a networkcomputing component (NCC) 136, 144, 150 for hosting applications, suchas data streaming applications, via a number of instances of a virtualmachine, generally referred to as an instance of an NCC. One skilled inthe relevant art will appreciate that NCC 136, 144, 150 would includephysical computing device resources and software to provide the multipleinstances of a virtual machine or to dynamically cause the creation ofinstances of a virtual machine. Such creation can be based on a specificrequest, such as from a client computing device, or the NCC can initiatedynamic creation of an instance of a virtual machine on its own. EachNCC POP 134, 142, 148 also includes a storage component 140, 146, 152made up of a number of storage devices for storing any type of data usedin the delivery and processing of network or computing resources,including, but not limited to, user data, state information, processingrequirements, historical usage data, and resources from contentproviders that will be processed by an instance of an NCC 136, 144, 150and transmitted to various client computers, etc. The NCCs 136, 144, 150and the storage components 140, 146, 152 may further include additionalsoftware and/or hardware components that facilitate communications,including, but not limited to, load balancing or load sharingsoftware/hardware components for selecting instances of a virtualmachine supporting a requested application and/or providing informationto a DNS nameserver to facilitate request routing.

In an illustrative embodiment, NCCs 136, 144, 150 and the storagecomponents 140, 146, 152 are considered to be logically grouped,regardless of whether the components, or portions of the components, arephysically separate. For example, a network computing provider 107 maymaintain separate POPs for providing the NCC and the storage components.Additionally, although the NCC POPs 134, 142, 148 are illustrated inFIG. 1 as logically associated with a network computing provider 107,the NCC POPs will be geographically distributed throughout thecommunication network 108 in a manner to best serve various demographicsof client computing devices 102. Additionally, one skilled in therelevant art will appreciate that the network computing provider 107 canbe associated with various additional computing resources, suchadditional computing devices for administration of content andresources, and the like. Even further, one skilled in the relevant artwill appreciate that the components of the network computing provider107 and components of the CDN service provider 106 can be managed by thesame or different entities.

With reference now to FIGS. 2-6, the interaction between variouscomponents of the networked computing environment 100 of FIG. 1 will beillustrated. Specifically, FIGS. 2-6 illustrate the interaction betweenvarious components of the networked computing environment 100 for theexchange of content between a client computing device 102 and a contentprovider 104 via the network computing provider 107. For purposes of theexample, however, the illustration has been simplified such that many ofthe components utilized to facilitate communications are not shown. Oneskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that such components can beutilized and that additional interactions would accordingly occurwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

With reference to FIG. 2, the process can begin with the generation andprocessing of a browse session request from a client computing device102 to a network computing provider 107. Illustratively, the clientcomputing device 102 may load a browser for viewing network content inresponse to an event or user request. Subsequent to the browser beingloaded, the browser may be implemented to request a new browse session.From the perspective of the user of the client computing device, therequest for the new browse session corresponds to the intended requestto transmit the request to one or more corresponding content providers104. Illustratively, this request may be generated automatically as aresult of the browser loading (e.g., a request for a default or “home”page), or may be generated as a result of a user following a link orentering a network address into an address bar. As illustrated in FIG.2, the browse session request may be transmitted first to a networkcomputing provider 107. In an illustrative embodiment, the networkcomputing provider 107 utilizes a registration application programinterface (“API”) to accept browse session requests from the clientcomputing device 102. The browse session request can include networkaddress information corresponding to a requested network resource, whichmay be in any form, including, but not limited to, an Internet Protocol(“IP”) address, a URL, a Media Access Control (“MAC”) address, etc. Thebrowse session request may further include information identifying auser, browser, client computing device 102, and/or any other browsingentity.

Subsequent to the receipt of the browse session request, the networkcomputing provider 107 may select an associated network computingcomponent (hereinafter “NCC”) point of presence (hereinafter “POP”) suchas NCC POP 142 to service the browse session request, and may identify ahistorical browse storage component based on the identifying informationin the browse session request. The selection of the NCC POP maydetermine the processing and network resources available to theinstantiated virtual machine. The selection of processing and networkresources and the provisioning of software at the NCC POP instance maybe done, at least in part, in order to optimize communication withcontent providers 104 and client computing devices 102.

With reference to FIG. 3, an illustrative interaction for generation andprocessing of a request for a network resource from a network computingprovider 107 to a content provider 104 will be described. As illustratedin FIG. 3, the selected NCC POP 142 may generate a browse sessioncorresponding to one or more content providers based on a browse sessionrequest, such as the illustrative browse session request depicted inFIG. 2 above. Illustratively, instantiating a new browse sessioninstance may include loading a new virtual machine instance and/orbrowser instance at the NCC POP 142, reserving or allocating devicememory, storage or cache space, processor time, network bandwidth, orother computational or network resources for the new browse session.

Subsequent to initializing a new browse session instance, NCC POP 142may provide a request for a network resource to a content provider 104based on a network address included in the browse session request. Forexample, a browse session request may include a URL for a Web page, suchas “http://www.xyzsite.com/default.htm.” NCC POP 142 may resolve the URLto an IP address through a DNS resolver associated with the networkcomputing provider (not shown), and may request the Web page from thecontent provider 104 at the resolved IP address. In various embodiments,a network resource may be retrieved from any combination of contentproviders, content delivery network (hereinafter “CDN”) servers, or datastores associated with the network computing provider 107. For example,the network computing provider may check if a resource is stored in alocal cache or in another server or service provider associated with thenetwork computing provider 107. If a network resource is stored in alocal or associated location, the NCC POP 142 may retrieve the networkresource from the local or associated location rather than from thethird party content provider 104 or CDN service provider 106.Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may provide requests for any number ofnetwork resources as included in the browse session request, and mayobtain these network resources from any number of different sources,sequentially or in parallel.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the content provider 104 receives the resourcerequest from the NCC POP 142 and processes the request accordingly. Inone embodiment, the content provider 104 processes the resource requestas if it were originally provided by the client computing device 102.For example, the content provider 104 may select the type of content,ordering of content, or version of content according to the requirementsof the requesting client computing device 102. In another embodiment,the content provider 104 may be provided with information that providesinformation associated with the NCC POP 142 for utilization in providingthe requested content (e.g., an available amount of processing resourcesor network bandwidth).

Subsequent to obtaining the requested network resource from the contentprovider 104 (or other source designated by the content provider), theNCC POP 142 may process the network resource to extract embeddedresource identifiers and gather information for determination of aclient remote session browse configuration. For example, a networkresource such as a Web page may include embedded CSS style informationand Javascript as well as embedded resource identifiers to additionalresources such as text, images, video, audio, animation, executablecode, and other HTML, CSS, and Javascript files. In the process ofextracting the embedded resource identifiers, the NCC POP 142 may gatherinformation about the processed network resources for later use in thedetermination of a client remote session browse configuration asdiscussed below with reference to FIG. 4.

With reference to FIG. 4, an illustrative interaction for generation andprocessing of one or more requests corresponding to one or more embeddedresources from a network computing provider to a content provider andcontent delivery network is disclosed. As illustrated in FIG. 4, theselected NCC POP 142 may provide resource requests to one or moresources of content such as content provider 104 and CDN POP 116. Theresource requests may correspond to embedded resources based on one ormore embedded resource identifiers extracted from a requested networkresource (e.g., a Web page) as described in FIG. 3 above. In variousembodiments, embedded resources may be retrieved from any combination ofcontent providers, CDN servers, or data stores associated with thenetwork computing provider 107.

For example, the network computing provider may check if an embeddedresource is stored in a local cache or in another data store or serviceprovider associated with the network computing provider 107. If anembedded resource is stored in a local or associated location, the NCCPOP 142 may retrieve the embedded resource from the local or associatedlocation rather than the third party content provider or CDN.Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may provide requests for any number ofembedded resources referenced by a network resource, and may obtainthese embedded resources from any number of different sources,sequentially or in parallel. Subsequent to obtaining the requestedresources, the NCC POP 142 may process the resources and requestedcontent to determine a client remote session browse configuration forthe processing and communication of content to the client computingdevice 102. The NCC POP 142 may further identify references in any ofthe retrieved content and determine any additional resource requests forretrieval and caching at the historical browse storage component.

With reference to FIG. 5, an illustrative interaction for generation andprocessing of a historical content representation, browse session data,and user interaction data between a network computing provider andclient computing device is disclosed. As previously described, in oneembodiment, the respective browsers on the instantiated networkcomputing component and the client computing device 102 can exchangebrowsers' session information, such as client remote session browseconfiguration information, related to the allocation and processing ofthe requested resources at the instantiated network computing componentand client computing device. In one embodiment, a historical browsestorage component may be additionally be associated with historicalremote session browse configuration information, which may be the sameor different as the client remote session browse configurationinformation discussed above.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the selected NCC POP 142 may generate initialprocessing results based on the client and historical remote sessionbrowse configuration information as discussed above. If the client andhistorical remote session browse configuration information each specifydifferent formats and/or processing of processing results, the selectedNCC POP 142 may generate two different processing results.Illustratively, a processing results generated based on the historicalremote session browse configuration may be referred to as a historicalcontent representation. The NCC POP 142 may provide the processingresults generated according to the historical remote session browseconfiguration information (i.e., the historical content representation)to the identified historical browse storage component. Illustratively,the historical browse storage component may be implemented over one ormore NCC POP of the network computing provider 107, or may include anyother network storage location or component.

The selected NCC POP 142 may provide an initial processing result to theclient computing device 102 over the network 108. The initial processingresult may correspond to requested network content, such as a Web page,along with associated embedded resources processed by the NCC POP 142 inaccordance with a selected client remote session browse configuration asdescribed in FIG. 4 above. The NCC POP 142 also makes a determination ofwhich additional processes will be conducted at the NCC POP 142, at theclient computing device 102, or both. Subsequent to receiving an initialprocessing result and the allocation of processes, the client computingdevice 102 may perform any remaining processing actions on the initialprocessing result as required by the selected client remote sessionbrowse configuration, and may display the fully processed content in acontent display area of a browser. The client computing device 102 mayprocess any local user interactions with local interface components orcontent elements locally, and may provide user interactions requiringremote processing to the network computing provider 107. The networkcomputing provider 107 may provide updated processing results to theclient computing device in response to changes to the content or remoteuser interaction data from the client computing device.

With reference to FIG. 6, a block diagram of the content deliveryenvironment of FIG. 1 illustrating the generation and processing of anadditional new browse session request from a client computing device toa network computing provider is disclosed. As illustrated in FIG. 6, asecond new browse session request may be sent to network computingprovider 107 from client computing device 102 across network 108. In anillustrative embodiment, the network computing provider 107 utilizes aregistration API to accept browse session requests from the clientcomputing device 102.

The additional browse session request may be generated by a clientcomputing device 102 in response to a user opening up a new browserwindow with a new content display area, opening a new content displayarea in an existing browser window (e.g., opening a new tab in abrowser), requesting new network content in an existing content displayarea (e.g., following a link to a new network resource, or entering anew network address into the browser), or any other user interaction.For example, a user browsing a first Web page corresponding to a firstbrowse session instance may follow a link that opens a new tab orbrowser window to view a second Web page. In one embodiment, anyrequired steps of obtaining and processing content associated with thesecond Web page may be performed by the currently instantiated networkcomputing component in which the browser can handle the processing ofboth resource requests. In another embodiment, the client computingdevice 102 request may be processed as a new browse session request tothe network computing provider 107, including the network address of thesecond Web page. In this embodiment, the browser on the client computingdevice may not specifically request a separate browse session, and auser's interaction with the browser on the client computing device 102may appear to be part of a same browsing session. As described abovewith regard to FIGS. 2 and 3, the network computing provider 107 maycause an instantiation of a network computing component for obtainingand processing content associated with the second web page. In otherembodiments, a new browse session request may be generated by the clientcomputing device 102 corresponding to sections of a network resource(e.g., frames of a Web page), individual network resources, or embeddedresources themselves, data objects included in a set of content, orindividual network resources.

Illustratively, the additional browse session request may include anynumber of pieces of data or information including, but not limited to,information associated with a user, information associated with theclient computing device 102 (e.g., hardware or software information, adevice physical or logical location, etc.), information associated withthe network 108, user or browser preferences (e.g., a requested remotesession browse protocol, a preference list, a decision tree, or otherinformation), information associated with the network computing provider107, information associated with one or more pieces of requested networkcontent (e.g., the network address of a network resource), etc.Requested content may include any manner of digital content, includingWeb pages or other documents, text, images, video, audio, executablescripts or code, or any other type of digital resource.

Subsequent to the receipt of the browse session request, the networkcomputing provider 107 may determine a historical browse storagecomponent based on identification information included in the browsesession request and select an associated network computing componentsuch as NCC POP 142 to service the browse session request. As discussedabove with reference to FIG. 2, a network computing provider 107 mayselect an NCC POP to service a browse session request based on anynumber of factors, including, but not limited to, available NCC POPresources (e.g., available memory, processor load, network load, etc), afinancial cost of servicing the browse session request at the NCC POP,the NCC POP location respective to a client computing device 102,content provider 104, or CDN POP 116, an NCC POP cache status (e.g.,whether a requested resource is already stored in an NCC POP cache ordata store), etc. In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107may select a number of NCC POPs to service a browse session request.Illustratively, although the network computing provider 107 is depictedhere, for purposes of illustration, as selecting NCC POP 142, thenetwork computing provider 107 may select any extant NCC POP to servicethe browse session request. For example, a single client computingdevice 102 may simultaneously or sequentially provide three differentbrowse session requests to the network computing provider 107corresponding to different network resources. The network computingprovider 107 may select different NCC POPs for each browse sessionrequest, the same NCC POP for all three browse session requests, or anycombination thereof. As discussed above, the decision whether to selecta different NCC POP than was utilized for a previous or simultaneousbrowse session request may be made on the basis of available systemresources, randomly, or according to any other factor as discussed aboveand with regard to FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a user interface diagram depicting an illustrative browserinterface and display of browse session content. As described above withreference to FIG. 5, a browser 700 may have a content display area 702,as well as one or more one or more local interface components. Theselocal interface components may include toolbars, menus, buttons, addressbars, scroll bars, window resize controls, or any other user interfacecontrols. Illustratively, local interface components may be displayed asseparate from the content display area or may be overlaid or embedded inthe content display area.

Interactions with local interface components may be treated as localuser interactions or remote user interactions depending on theprocessing required by the interaction and the client remote sessionbrowse configuration. For example, the selection of a preferences optionin a browser menu may be handled entirely as a local user interaction bya browser. The processing required to display the menu, provide visualfeedback regarding the selection, display the preferences window, andprocess the changes made to the browser preferences may be performedlocally. As discussed above, processing user interactions locally mayprovide greater responsiveness at the browser as opposed to sending userinteraction data to the NCC POP 142 for processing. As another example,when using a client remote session browse configuration that specifiesextensive processing on the NCC POP 142 (e.g., a client remote sessionbrowse configuration using a remote session communication protocol suchas RDP), the selection of a content refresh button in a browser toolbarmay be handled both as a local user interaction and a remote userinteraction. The limited processing required to provide interfacefeedback corresponding to the button selection may be handled at theclient computing device 102 in order to provide the appearance ofinterface responsiveness, while the refresh command, which may requireprocessing of the network content displayed in the content display areaof the browser, may be sent as user interaction data to the NCC POP 142for processing. The NCC POP 142 may then transmit updated processingresults corresponding to the refreshed network content back to theclient computing device 102 for display.

Illustratively, the browser 700 may include one or more content displayareas 702 organized in content tabs 708A-C. Illustratively, a contentdisplay area 702 may display a representation of content correspondingto a processing result provided by an NCC POP 142 as the result of alive browsing session, or may display a representation of contentcorresponding to a historical content representation. Tabs 708A and 708Cassociated with historical content representations may have one or moreindicia that a historical content representation is being viewed, andmay further include a date, time, or other associated or identifyinginformation.

Illustratively, a browser 700 may include any number of other controlsnot shown herein, but associated with the viewing, processing, ormaintenance of a historical content representation. For example, abrowser 700 may include a control to show the current version of contentcorresponding to a historical content representation, controls to moveback and forward in the historical navigation path, controls to showhistorical content representations and/or the historical navigation pathin a list or tree view such as that shown, for purposes of illustration,in FIGS. 13 and 14. A browser 700 may further include control to allowsearching of the historical browse storage component based on a currentpiece of displayed content or historical content representation asdescribed below with reference to FIG. 15. In various other embodiments,a browser 700 may visually indicate whether resource references (e.g.,hyperlinks) within the displayed historical content representation areassociated with full historical content representations stored at thehistorical browse storage component. In a still further embodiment, abrowser 700 may visually indicate a level of popularity of a resourcereference within a displayed historical content representation based,for example, on a number of other users that followed or continued tobrowse from the referenced resource.

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting illustrative browser content processingactions as a series of processing subsystems 800. In many embodiments, abrowser may process sets of content (e.g., network resources such as webpages and associated embedded resources) in a series of processingactions. Illustratively, and as described above with reference to FIGS.3-5, a client or historical remote session browse configuration mayspecify a split between processing actions performed at a networkcomputing provider (e.g., an NCC POP) and processing actions performedat a client computing device 102. This split may designate someprocessing actions to be performed by each of the NCC POP and clientcomputing device 102, or may assign all processing actions to a singledevice or component. For example, an NCC POP may perform all of thesevarious processing actions at the browse session instance, and sendfully processed RDP processing results to the client computing device102 for bitmap assembly and display. Illustratively, a single browsesession instance may have different or the same client and historicalremote session browse configurations. Further, any number of differentclient or historical remote session browse configurations may be used byone or more browse sessions instances running at an NCC POP.

One of skill in the relevant art will appreciate that the subsystemsshown here are depicted for the purpose of illustration, and are notintended to describe a necessary order or a definitive list of browsersubsystems. Various browser software components may implement additionalor fewer browser subsystems than are shown here, and may order thesubsystems or corresponding processing actions in any number ofdifferent ways. Although the processing subsystems 800 depicted here forpurposes of illustration are directed at the processing of Web pages orother Web content, one of skill in the relevant art will appreciate thatthe processing of other file types or network resources may be broken upin a similar manner. For example, one of skill in the relevant art willappreciate that similar schema may be developed for the processing ofimages, video, audio, database information, 3d design data, or any otherfile format or type of data known in the art. Similar schema may also bedeveloped for any number of device operating system or softwareframework processing operations, such as scheduling, memory or filemanagement, system resource management, process or service execution ormanagement, etc. Further, although the HTML protocol and RDP remotesession communication protocols are discussed herein for the purposes ofexample, one of skill in the relevant art will appreciate that a clientor historical remote session browse configuration may implement anynumber of remote communication protocols for any number of specifiedprocessing actions, and that a client or historical remote sessionbrowse configuration may be formulated to perform any fraction orcombination of the actions identified below at any combination of theclient computing device 102 and network computing provider 107.

Illustratively, the first processing subsystem involved in theprocessing and display of network content is the networking subsystem802. Illustratively, the networking subsystem 802 may be responsible forall communication between the browser and content provider, includinglocal caching of Web content. The networking subsystem is generallylimited by the performance of the user's network. A client or historicalremote session browse configuration that splits processing actions atthe networking subsystem 802 might include a client or historical remotesession browse configuration utilizing an HTML remote sessioncommunication protocol, where one or more caching or resource retrievalactions were performed at the NCC POP, but parsing and processing of thecontent was performed at the client computing device.

As network resources such as HTML documents are downloaded from theserver they may be passed to an HTML subsystem 804 which parses thedocument, initiates additional downloads in the networking subsystem,and creates a structural representation of the document. Modern browsersmay also contain related subsystems which are used for XHTML, XML andSVG documents. A client or historical remote session browseconfiguration that splits processing actions at the HTML subsystem 804might include a client or historical remote session browse configurationutilizing an HTML remote session communication protocol, where aninitial HTML page is processed at the NCC POP in order to extractembedded resource identifiers, but additional parsing and processing ofthe content is performed at the client computing device. In anotherembodiment, a client or historical remote session browse configurationthat splits processing actions at the HTML subsystem 804 might performinitial processing to create the structural representation of the HTMLdocument, and provides a processing result including the structuralrepresentation and associated embedded resources.

When CSS is encountered, whether inside an HTML document or an embeddedCSS document, it may be passed to a CSS subsystem 806 to parse the styleinformation and create a structural representation that can bereferenced later. Illustratively, a remote session browse configurationthat splits processing actions at a CSS subsystem 806 may construct aprocessing result including the CSS structural representation and HTMLstructural representation, optionally including any associated embeddedresources.

HTML documents often contain metadata, for example the informationdescribed in a document header or the attributes applied to an element.The collections subsystem 808 may be responsible for storing andaccessing this metadata. A client or historical remote session browseconfiguration that splits processing actions at a collections subsystem808 may construct a processing result including processed metadata alongwith any other structural representations discussed above, optionallyincluding any associated embedded resources.

When Javascript is encountered, it may be passed directly to aJavaScript subsystem 810 responsible for executing the script. TheJavaScript subsystem 810 has been examined fully over the years, and maybe one of the most well known browser subsystems in the art. A client orhistorical remote session browse configuration that splits processingactions at a Javascript subsystem 810 may construct a processing resultincluding an internal representation of one or more Javascript scripts,including, but not limited to, state data or a representation of thescript in a native or intermediate form, as well as any other processedstructures or data discussed above, optionally including any associatedembedded resources.

Because many JavaScript engines are not directly integrated into thebrowser, there may be a communication layer including the marshallingsubsystem 812 between the browser and the script engine. Passinginformation through this communication layer may generally be referredto as marshalling. A client or historical remote session browseconfiguration that splits processing actions at a marshalling subsystem812 may construct a processing result including marshalling data as wellas any other processed structures, scripts, or data discussed above,optionally including any associated embedded resources.

In some embodiments, JavaScript interacts with an underlying networkresource such as a Web document through the Document Object Model APIs.These APIs may be provided through a native object model subsystem 814that knows how to access and manipulate the document and is the primaryinteraction point between the script engine and the browser.Illustratively, a client or historical remote session browseconfiguration that splits processing actions at a native object modelsubsystem 814 may construct a processing result including native objectmodel state data or API calls as well as any other processed structures,scripts, or data discussed above, optionally including any associatedembedded resources.

Once the document is constructed, the browser may needs to apply styleinformation before it can be displayed to the user. The formattingsubsystem 816 takes the HTML document and applies styles.Illustratively, a client or historical remote session browseconfiguration that splits processing actions at a formatting subsystem816 may construct a processing result including an HTML representationwith applied styles, as well as any other processed state data, APIcalls, structures, scripts, or data discussed above, optionallyincluding any associated embedded resources.

In one embodiment, CSS is a block based layout system. After thedocument is styled, the next step, at a block building subsystem 818,may be to construct rectangular blocks that will be displayed to theuser. This process may determine things like the size of the blocks andmay be tightly integrated with the next stage, layout. A client orhistorical remote session browse configuration that splits processingactions at a block building subsystem 818 may construct a processingresult including block information, as well as any other processed statedata, API calls, structures, scripts, or data discussed above,optionally including any associated embedded resources.

Subsequent to the browser styling the content and constructing theblocks, it may go through the process of laying out the content. Thelayout subsystem 820 is responsible for this algorithmically complexprocess. Illustratively, a client or historical remote session browseconfiguration that splits processing actions at a layout subsystem 820may process the various state data, API calls, structures, scripts, ordata discussed above to construct a processing result including layoutinformation for the client computing device. Illustratively, an NCC POPmay make use of various data or settings associated with the clientcomputing device or browser (e.g., as provided in the initial browsesession request) in order to generate a suitable layout for the clientcomputing device. For example, a mobile device may provide a screenresolution and a display mode to the NCC POP. The NCC POP may baselayout calculations on this screen resolution and display mode in orderto generate a processing result corresponding to a contentrepresentation suitable for a browser running on the mobile device.Illustratively, in various embodiments, any other subsystem implementedby the NCC POP may make use of data associated with the client computingdevice or browser in generating a processing result for the client.

The final stage of the process may occur inside the display subsystem822 where the final content is displayed to the user. This process isoften referred to as drawing. A client or historical remote sessionbrowse configuration that splits processing actions at the networkingsubsystem 802 might include a client or historical remote session browseconfiguration utilizing an RDP remote session communication protocol,where nearly all processing is performed at the NCC POP, and aprocessing result including bitmap data and low level interface data arepassed to the client computing device for display.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrative of a new browse session routine900 implemented by network computing provider 107 of FIG. 1. New browsesession routine 900 begins at block 902. At block 904, the networkcomputing provider 107 receives a new browse session request from clientcomputing device 102. As previously described, the client computingdevice 102 may load a browser for viewing network content in response toan event or user request. Subsequent to the browser being loaded, thebrowser may be implemented to request a new browse session. From theperspective of the user of the client computing device, the request forthe new browse session corresponds to the intended request to transmitthe request to one or more corresponding content providers 104.Illustratively, this request may be generated automatically as a resultof the browser loading (e.g., a request for a default or “home” page),or may be generated as a result of a user following a link or entering anetwork address into an address bar. This browse session request mayinclude one or more addresses or references to various network resourcesor other content requested by the client computing device 102. Thebrowse session request may further include identifying informationincluding, but not limited to, a user identifier, a browser identifier,a historical cache or data store identifier, a physical or logicallocation identifier, or a device identifier. In an illustrativeembodiment, the browse session request is transmitted in accordance withan API.

At block 906 the network computing provider 107 may identify ahistorical browse storage component associated with one or more aspectsof identifying information included in the browse session request.Illustratively, the historical browse storage component may beassociated with the network computing provider 107 (e.g., implemented onone or more NCC POP), or associated or provided by a third party networkstorage component or data store.

At block 908 the network computing provider 107 may select an associatedNCC POP to instantiate a new browse session based on the browse sessionrequest. As discussed above with reference to FIG. 1, a networkcomputing provider 107 may include any number of NCC POPs distributedacross any number of physical or logical locations. A network computingprovider 107 may select a NCC POP to service a browse session requestbased on any number of factors, including, but not limited to, availableNCC POP resources (e.g., available memory, processor load, network load,etc.), a financial cost of servicing the browse session request at theNCC POP, the NCC POP location respective to a client computing device102, content provider 104, or CDN POP 116, a NCC POP cache status (e.g.,whether a requested resource is already stored in an NCC POP cache ordata store), etc.

In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107 may select anumber of NCC POPs to service a browse session request. For example, thenetwork computing provider 107 may select two NCC POPs with differentlogical locations in the network. Each NCC POP may independently requestand process network content on the behalf of the client computing device102, and the client computing device 102 may accept data from the firstNCC POP to return a processing result. Subsequent to being selected bythe network computing provider 107, NCC POP 142 may obtain the browsesession request. In one embodiment, NCC POP 142 may have the browsesession request forwarded to it by a component of network computingprovider 107. In another embodiment, NCC POP 142 or client computingdevice 102 may receive connection information allowing the establishmentof direct communication between NCC POP 142 and client computing device102. Illustratively, NCC POP 142 may be provided with the browse sessionrequest originally provided to network computing provider 107, may beprovided with a subset of information (e.g., just a network address ofrequested content), or may be provided additional information notincluded in the original browse session request.

Subsequent to the NCC POP 142 being selected, the network computingprovider 107 may cause the NCC POP 142 to instantiate a new browsesession. Illustratively, instantiating a new browse session instance mayinclude loading a new virtual machine instance and/or browser instanceat the NCC POP 142, reserving or allocating device memory, storage orcache space, processor time, network bandwidth, or other computationalor network resources for the new browse session. Illustratively, one ormore characteristics of the new browse session instance and/or browserinstance may be based on client computing device 102 informationincluded in the browse session request. For example, the browse sessionrequest may include a device type or browser type, a device screenresolution, a browser display area, or other information defining thedisplay preferences or capabilities of the client computing device 102or browser. The NCC POP 142 may accordingly instantiate a virtualmachine instance and/or a browser instance with the same or similarcapabilities as the client computing device 102. Illustratively,maintaining a virtual machine instance and/or browser with the same orsimilar capabilities as the client computing device 102 may allow theNCC POP 142 to process network content according to the appropriatedimensions and layout for display on the particular client computingdevice 102.

In some embodiments, the NCC POP 142 may utilize an existing virtualmachine instance and/or browser instance in addition to, or as analternative to, instating a new browse session. For example, subsequentto the NCC POP 142 being selected, the network computing provider 107may cause the NCC POP 142 to associate an existing browser instanceand/or virtual machine instance, such as one or more instancespreviously instantiated at the NCC POP 142, with the new browse sessionrequest. Illustratively, an existing browser session and/or virtualmachine instance may correspond to another browse session, remoteapplication session, or other remote process associated with the user orclient computing device 102, or may be a previously instantiatedsoftware instance from an unrelated browse session or remote process. Inother embodiments, the NCC POP 142 may instantiate a new browser orother application process in an existing virtual machine instance, ormay combine the utilization of previously instantiated and newlyinstantiated software processes in any number of other ways. In stillfurther embodiments, the network computing provider or NCC POP 142 mayinstantiate any number of new virtual machine instances and/or browserinstances (or make use of existing instantiated instances) based on asingle browse session request.

At block 910 the network computing provider 107 may provide a requestfor one or more network resources to a content provider or CDN serviceprovider based on a network address included in the browse sessionrequest. In various embodiments, one or more network resources may beadditionally or alternately retrieved from a cache or data store localto the NCC POP 142 or otherwise associated with the network computingprovider 107. One of skill in the art will appreciate that, in the caseof other embodiments, the link or network address may correspond to adocument or file stored in a digital file locker or other networkstorage location or at a cache component associated with the networkcomputing provider 107 or client computing device 102. In someembodiments, the new session request may include a document or file inaddition to or as an alternative to a network address.

At block 912, the network computing provider 107 obtains the one or morenetwork resources. Subsequent to obtaining the requested networkresource, the NCC POP 142 may process the network resource to extractembedded resource identifiers. The network computing provider 107 mayprovide resource requests based on the embedded resource identifiers toone or more sources of content such as content providers, CDN serviceproviders, and caches or data stores. The network computing provider 107may obtain these embedded resources from any number of differentsources, sequentially or in parallel.

At block 914, the network computing provider 107 may process the networkresources obtained in block 912 above to determine any additionalresource requests for the historical browse storage component. In oneembodiment, network computing provider 107 may be configured to processnetwork resources directly or indirectly referenced by a requestednetwork resource and provide corresponding historical contentrepresentations to a historical browse storage component. Anillustrative example of requested and referenced network resources isprovided with regards to FIG. 13 below.

For example, a client computing device 102 may provide a request for anew browse session instance corresponding to a Web page. As describedabove, the network computing provider 107 may retrieve the Web page andassociated embedded resources. Illustratively, the Web page mayreference any number of other Web pages or other resources through HTMLtags embedded in the Web page. For the purposes of the example, thenetwork computing provider 107 may be configured to retrieve allreferenced resources up to three levels deep. In this example, thenetwork computing provider 107 may process the requested Web page toextract URLs of referenced Web pages or other resources. The networkcomputing provider 107 may then send requests for the referenced Webpages or other resources. These requested Web pages may be processed,and historical content representations corresponding to the requestedWeb pages may be provided to the historical browse storage component forstorage and indexing. The network computing provider 107 may in turnprocess these referenced Web pages or other resources to determine andrequest any secondarily referenced Web pages or other resources.Accordingly, historical content representations corresponding to thesecondarily requested Web pages may be provided to the historical browsestorage component for storage and indexing. The process of requestingreferenced resources and processing the requested resources to determinefurther references to resources may be repeated any number of times.Specifically, with reference to the above example, the network computingprovider 107 may follow references in the secondarily referenced Webpages to obtain and cache tertiary referenced Web pages in order tosatisfy the three level deep setting described in the example.

The determination of how many levels to follow references may bepredetermined by a user, browser, historical browse storage component,network computing provider 107, or other entity or device. In anotherembodiment, the determination of how many levels to follow referencesmay be dynamically determined based on a characteristic associated witha requested resource, a time of day or date, a level of interest orimportance assigned to the remote session, or any other factor.

In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107 may cause theinstantiation additional browse sessions to request and processreferenced resources. Illustratively, these additional browse sessionsmay instantiate further browse sessions to process secondarilyreferences resources, and so forth, recursively, until the appropriatelevel of reference retrieval is reached.

Illustratively, in various embodiments, different factors may influencewhich resources are processed into historical content representationsand stored at the historical computing and storage component. Forexample, a network computing provider 107 may not process and store aresource and/or follow references from a referenced resource based onany number of factors including, but not limited to, a content type ofthe resource, a tag or other metadata associated with the resource, atext term appearing within the resource, a popularity of a resourcebased on the preferences of other users browsing via the networkcomputing provider 107, etc. In one embodiment, a network computingprovider 107 may ignore previously encountered network resources orcircular references when obtaining referenced network resource. In otherembodiments, the historical browse storage component may retrievereferenced network resources in addition to or as an alternative to thenetwork computing provider 107.

In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107 may only retrieveand/or process limited aspects of resources past a determined orspecified depth threshold of references. For example, after followingtwo levels of references, a network computing provider 107 may onlyrequest, process, and/or provide a corresponding historical contentrepresentation to the historical browse storage component for html andother textual content, and not include any representations of images orother embedded resources. Illustratively, a network computing provider107 may be configured with any number of thresholds corresponding tolimited content requests, processing and/or storage. Further, thenetwork computing provider 107 may limit requests, processing, and/orstorage to any number of different aspects of retrieved contentincluding, but not limited to, html, text, metadata, URLs or references,or any other category or type of content, information, or characteristicof a resource.

At block 916, the network computing provider 107 may process the one ormore network resources and associated embedded resources to determine aclient remote session browse configuration for the processing andcommunication of content to the client computing device 102.Illustratively, a historical remote session browse configuration mayadditionally be determined by the network computing provider asdescribed here, or may be predefined for a network computing provider,user, browser, historical browse storage component, or other entity. Asdiscussed above, a historical remote session browse configuration and aclient remote session browse configuration may be the same or differentin any aspect. A non-specific client and/or historical remote sessionbrowse configuration may be described herein as a generic “remotesession browse configuration” and any discussion thereof may relate toeither a historical remote session browse configuration or a clientremote session browse configuration.

Illustratively, a remote session browse configuration may include anyproprietary or public remote protocol allowing exchange of data and userinteractions or requests between a client and a remote server. Theremote session browse configuration may illustratively include both aremote session communication protocol and a processing schema forproviding processed (or unprocessed) content to a client computingdevice for display in the content display area of a browser.

In one embodiment, a remote session browse configuration may define orspecify a remote session communication protocol, including, but notlimited to, a network protocol, signaling model, transport mechanism, orencapsulation format for the exchange of state data, user interactions,and other data and content between the network computing provider andthe client computing device. Examples of remote session communicationprotocols known in the art include Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP),X-Windows protocol, Virtual Network Computing (VNC) protocol, RemoteFrame Buffer protocol, HTML, etc. For example, RDP illustrativelyspecifies a number of processing mechanisms for encoding client input(e.g., mouse movement, keyboard input, etc.) into protocol data unitsfor provision to a remote computing device, and corresponding mechanismsfor sending bitmap updates and low level interface information back tothe client device. As another example, the HTML protocol illustrativelyprovides a mechanism for providing files defining interface informationand containing resource references from a server to a client, and acorresponding mechanism for a client computing device to providerequests for additional files and resources to the server. In oneembodiment, the NCC POP 142 may provide an initial communication to theclient computing device 102 after determining the remote sessioncommunication protocol. This initial communication may allow the clientcomputing device 102 to prepare to receive communications in theselected remote session communication protocol, and, in the case of pullremote session communication protocols like HTTP, may cause the clientcomputing device to send an initial resource request to the browsesession instance running on the NCC POP 142.

Each remote session browse configuration may additionally define a splitof processing actions between the network computing and storage service(e.g., NCC POP 142) and the client computing device (e.g., clientcomputing device 102). In one embodiment, a particular split ofprocessing actions may be based on or mandated by a particular remotesession communication protocol. In another embodiment, a remote sessioncommunication protocol may allow several different splits of processingactions depending on the implementation or configuration of theprotocol. For the purpose of illustration, many pieces of networkcontent (e.g., Web pages, video, Flash documents) may require variousprocessing actions before being displayed on a computing device. A Webpage, for example, may be parsed to process various HTML layoutinformation and references to associated resources or embedded contentsuch as CSS style sheets and Javascript, as well as embedded contentobjects such as images, video, audio, etc. The HTML and each referencedobject or piece of code will typically be parsed and processed before arepresentative object model corresponding to the Web page may beconstructed. This object model may then be processed further for layoutand display in a content display area of a browser at the clientcomputing device 102. Illustrative browser processing actions aredescribed in greater detail below with reference to FIG. 8. One of skillin the art will appreciate that, in the case of other embodiments orapplications, various other processing actions may be required.

A remote session browse configuration may specify that various of theprocessing actions required for display of a piece of network content beperformed at the remote computing device, such as the NCC POP 142,rather than at the client computing device 102. Network contentpartially (or wholly) processed at the network computing provider may bereferred to as a processing result. As discussed below, the split ofprocessing actions may be associated with or linked to the remotesession communication protocol used for exchanging data and client inputbetween the NCC POP 142 and client computing device 102.

For example, a remote session communication protocol, such as RDP, thattransmits a processing result including low level interface informationand bitmaps to the client computing device 142 for display may beassociated with a remote session browse configuration that specifiesperforming all, or nearly all, of the necessary content processingactions at the NCC POP 142. While using RDP, the NCC POP 142 may, forexample, run a full instance of a browser at the NCC POP 142 andtransmit a processing result consisting of bitmap updates correspondingto a representation of the displayed content to the client computingdevice 102. The client computing device 102, in this example, may merelybe required to assemble the transmitted bitmap updates for display inthe content display area of the browser, and may perform none of theprocessing of the actual HTML, JavaScript, or data objects involved inthe display of an illustrative piece of network content. As anotherexample, a remote session browse configuration utilizing a remotesession communication protocol such as HTML may transmit network contentin a largely unprocessed form. The client computing device 102 may thusperform all of the processing actions required for display of networkcontent while the NCC POP 142 performs little or no processing.

The NCC POP 142 may base its determination of a remote session browseconfiguration on any number of factors, including, but not limited to,one or more characteristics of one or more of the requested resources,content provider 104, or CDN service provider 106, one or morecharacteristics of the content address or domain, one or morecharacteristics of the client computing device 102, browser orapplication, user, one or more characteristics of the NCC POP 142, orone or more characteristics of the network or network connection, etc.Characteristics of requested resources may include, but are not limitedto, a data format, a content type, a size, processing requirements,resource latency requirements, a number or type of interactive elements,a security risk, an associated user preference, a network address, anetwork domain, an associated content provider, etc. Characteristics ofa content provider 104, CDN service provider 106, computing device 102,or NCC POP 142 may include, but are not limited to, processing power,memory, storage, network connectivity (e.g., available bandwidth orlatency), a physical or logical location, predicted stability or risk offailure, a software or hardware profile, available resources (e.g.,available memory or processing, or the number of concurrently opensoftware applications), etc. The NCC POP 142 may further considerperceived security threats or risks associated with a piece of contentor domain, preferences of a client computing device or a contentprovider, computing or network resource costs (e.g., a financial cost ofprocessing or bandwidth, resource usage, etc.), predeterminedpreferences or selection information, any additional processing overheadrequired by a particular remote session browse configuration, a cachestatus (e.g., whether a particular resources is cached or stored at aNCC POP 142, at the client computing device 102, or at other networkstorage associated with the network computing provider), a predicteddelay or time required to retrieve requested network content, apreferred content provider or agreements with a content provider for aparticular remote session browse configuration or level of service, aremote session browse configuration being used for another (or thecurrent) browse session by the same user, or any other factor.

In some embodiments, an NCC POP 142 may base a determination of a remotesession browse configuration on past behavior or practice. For example,an NCC POP 142 that has determined a remote browse session configurationfor a particular resource in the past may automatically select the sameremote browse session configuration when the resource is requested bythe same (or potentially a different) user. As another example, a userthat has a history of frequently accessing Web sites with extensiveprocessing requirements may automatically be assigned a remote sessionbrowse configuration that performs the majority of processing at the NCCPOP 142. In other embodiments, an NCC POP 142 may base a determinationof a remote browse session configuration on predictions of futurebehavior. For example, an NCC POP 142 may base its determination of aremote browse session configuration for a particular resource on ananalysis of past determinations made for a particular Web site, networkdomain, or set of related resources. A content provider thathistorically has provided video-heavy Web pages may be associated with aremote session browse configuration that emphasizes video performance atthe client computing device 102. Illustratively, past historicalanalysis and future predictions may be considered as one or more of anumber of factors on which to base the remote session browseconfiguration determination process, or may be definitive in thedecision making process. For example, once an NCC POP 142 determines aremote session browse configuration for a particular content provider,it may skip the remote session browse configuration determinationprocess for any future resources served from the content provider.Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may re-determine a remote session browseconfiguration to be associated with the content provider after a fixedperiod of time, or after the NCC POP 142 has identified or determined achange in the content being served by the content provider.

In other embodiments, a network resource, Web site, network domain,content provider, or other network entity may specify or otherwiserequest the use of a particular remote browse session configuration in aresource tag, metadata, or other communication with an NCC POP 142. TheNCC POP 142 may treat the request as definitive, or may consider therequest as one of multiple factors to be considered in the decisionmaking process.

For example, a remote session browse configuration utilizing a remotesession communication protocol such as RDP may specify extensiveprocessing to occur at the network computing provider 107 (e.g., at NCCPOP 142) rather than at the client computing device 102. The remotesession browse configuration may thus leverage the processing power ofthe NCC POP 142 to achieve lower latencies and presentation delay whendealing with network content that requires a great deal ofpre-processing (e.g., content with a great deal of CSS or JavaScriptinformation defining page layout). The NCC POP 142 may therefore selecta remote session browse configuration that performs a substantial amountof processing at the network computing provider 107 and utilizes RDP ora similar remote session communication protocol for communication ofprocessing-intensive content. Conversely, a remote session browseconfiguration that utilizes a remote session communication protocol,such as HTML, may specify extensive processing at the client computingdevice 102 rather than at the network computing provider 107. The remotesession communication protocol may thus achieve smaller delays andsmoother presentation when presented with simple network content thatrequires very little processing or network content that requires rapidchange in displayed content after its initial load. For example, a Webpage with embedded video may exhibit better performance when performingthe majority of processing locally and utilizing HTML rather than RDP asa remote session communication protocol. A remote session browseconfiguration specifying extensive processing at the network computingprovider 107 must process the video at the NCC POP 142 and rapidly sendscreen updates (e.g. by RDP) to the client computing device 102,potentially requiring a great deal of bandwidth and causing choppyplayback in the browser, while a remote session browse configurationspecifying local processing may provide raw video information directlyto the client computing device 102 for display (e.g. by HTML), allowingfor client side caching and a smoother playback of content.

As a further example, the NCC POP 142 in communication with a clientcomputing device 102 with extremely limited processing power may electto use a remote session browse configuration that requires very littleprocessing by the client computing device, for example, using RDP totransmit NCC POP 142 processed results. Conversely, an NCC POP 142providing an extremely interactive Web page may elect to use a remotesession browse configuration that allows the client computing device 102to handle user interactions locally in order to preserve interfaceresponsiveness, for example, using HTML to transmit substantiallyunprocessed data. As a still further example, an NCC POP 142 may basethe determination of a remote session browse configuration onpreferences provided by the client computing device 102. A clientcomputing device 102 may illustratively include preferences for a remotesession browse configuration in an initial browse session request, or atany other time. The NCC POP 142 may utilize these preferences as analternative to, or in addition to any other factor or decision metric.Illustratively, allowing the client computing device 102 to set orinfluence the selection of a remote session browse configuration allowsthe NCC POP 142 to take user preferences into account when determining aremote session browse configuration. For example, a user worried aboutinitial page load times may prefer to use a remote session browseconfiguration heavy on remote processing and utilizing an RDP remotesession communications protocol, while a user wishing to maintain anextremely responsive interface may prefer using a remote session browseconfiguration that performs the majority of the processing on the clientcomputing device 102, for example, using an HTML remote sessioncommunication protocol.

Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may base a determination of a remotebrowsing configuration on any factor or combination of factors. Forexample, the NCC POP 142 may select a remote session browseconfiguration based on a single factor, or may assign weights to one ormore factors in making a determination. In some embodiments, thedetermination process of the NCC POP 142 may change based on one or morefactors described above. For example, an NCC POP 142 communicating witha client computing device 102 over a network with a surplus of unusedbandwidth may give a low weight to factors such as the networkrequirements of a remote browse session, and may give a higher weight tofactors such as the latency of page interactions, while an NCC POP 142communicating with a client computing device 102 over a limitedbandwidth network may give a higher weight to factors dealing with theefficiency of the remote session browse protocol over a network.

In one embodiment, the NCC POP 142 may select a single remote sessionbrowse configuration for a set of network content. For example, the NCCPOP 142 may select a single remote session browse configuration for arequested network resource such as a Web page. The NCC POP 142 may thusprocess the Web page together with all embedded content based on theselected remote browsing session protocol, and utilize the remotebrowsing session protocol to exchange user interaction data and updatedbrowse session data for all embedded content associated with the Webpage. In another embodiment, the NCC POP 142 may select different remotesession browse configurations for one or more resources in a set ofnetwork content. For example, a network resource such as a Web page mayreference processing intensive embedded JavaScript or CSS resources, aswell as embedded video resources. The NCC POP 142 may select a firstremote session browse configuration for the Web page and all embeddedresources, excluding the embedded video resource, and a second remotesession browse configuration for the embedded video resource.Illustratively, this may result in the NCC POP 142 utilizing RDP to senda processing result to the client computing device 102 for display ofthe Web page and associated embedded resources, while utilizing HTTP tosend the embedded video as a separate, unprocessed file. In oneembodiment, the client computing device 102 may perform the minimalprocessing required to display the RDP processing result correspondingto the Web page and embedded resources, and may also perform additionalprocessing necessary to display the embedded video, for example,overlaying the video on top of the displayed RDP representation of theWeb page. Any number of remote session browse configurations may beselected to correspond to any number of resources or objects included ina set of network content, regardless of whether resources or objects areobtained from a content provider 104 or CDN service provider 106 in oneor more logical files or data structures.

Although the selection of a remote session browse configuration isillustratively depicted herein as occurring after all network resourcesand associated embedded content have been obtained by the NCC POP 142,one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the selection of aremote session browse configuration may be performed at any time. Forexample, the NCC POP 142 may select a remote session browseconfiguration after receiving a new browse session request or relatedinformation from the client computing device, may select a remotesession browse configuration after obtaining a network resource, butbefore obtaining any associated embedded resources, or at any othertime. In some embodiments, the NCC POP 142 may switch to a new remotesession browse configuration at some time subsequent to the clientcomputing device 102 obtaining an initial processing result.Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 selecting a new remote session browseconfiguration may occur automatically after a certain time period orevent or in response to a change in network conditions, NCC POP 142 orclient computing device 102 load or computing resources, or any otherfactor described above as potentially influencing the choice of remotesession browse configuration. Illustratively, an NCC POP 142 dealingwith other types or formats of information may select a remote sessionprotocol based on any number of similar factors. For example, one ofskill in the relevant art will appreciate that a similar schema may bedeveloped for the processing of images, video, audio, databaseinformation, 3d design data, or any other file format or type of dataknown in the art.

The client computing device 102 may, in various embodiments, furtherinstantiate a parallel browsing process sequentially or simultaneouslywith the request for a remote browse session. In one embodiment, aclient computing device 102 may instantiate a traditional local browsesession as known in the art (e.g., providing content requests from thebrowser and processing obtained resources locally) in addition to one ormore remote browse instance executing at an NCC POP 142. In anotherembodiment, a client computing device 102 may be provided withunprocessed network resources by the NCC POP 142. Illustratively, thenetwork resources may have been retrieved from one or more contentproviders, CDNs, or cache or storage components by the NCC POP 142. Theresources may be provided to the client computing device 102 to processlocally in parallel with the remote browse instance executing at the NCCPOP 142. In still further embodiments, the network computing provider orNCC POP 142 may instantiate any number of new virtual machine instancesand/or browser instances (or make use of existing instantiatedinstances) to process resources and/or send processing results to theclient computing device 102 in parallel. Illustratively, the localbrowse session at the client computing device 102 and the remote browsesession instance at the NCC POP 142 may execute in parallel.

In one embodiment, a local browse session executing at the clientcomputing device 102 may obtain unprocessed content (e.g., html Webpages, embedded content, and other network resources) from the NCC POP142 responsive to a browse session request. Illustratively, the contentmay have been retrieved by the NCC POP 142 from a content provider, CDN,cache, or data store in response to the browse session request. Theunprocessed content provided by the NCC POP 142 may include all thecontent associated with the browse session request or may supplementcontent existing in a cache or data store of the client computingdevice, retrieved from a content provider or CDN, or obtained from someother source. In one embodiment, a client computing device 102 mayobtain all requested content from a local cache or data store, and maynot obtain any unprocessed resources or content from the NCC POP 142.Subsequent to obtaining the unprocessed content, client computing device102 may process the requested content in parallel with a remote browsesession executing at the NCC POP 142. For example, as the local browsesession executing at the client computing device 102 is processing therequested content, a remote browse session executing at the NCC POP 142may be processing the same content at substantially the same time. Oncethe NCC POP 142 has performed a set of processing actions on the contentto generate a processing result (e.g., as specified by a determinedremote session browse configuration), the NCC POP 142 may provide theprocessing result to the client computing device 102.

For the purpose of illustration, a client computing device 102 mayrequire a longer load time to obtain and process requested networkresources than a browse session instance running at the NCC POP 142. Forexample, the NCC POP 142 may obtain and process content quickly due toits position on the network and the relative processing power of thelocal client computing device as compared to the NCC POP 142. Even ifthe NCC POP 142 provides the client computing device 102 with allrequested network content, the client computing device 102 may stillobtain a processing result from NCC POP 142 before the local browsesession has fully completed processing the requested resources. Theclient computing device 102 may complete any further processing stepsand display the obtained processing result before completing localprocessing and display of the content. Illustratively, this may allowthe client computing device 102 to take advantage of an NCC POP 142'squicker content load time relative to a traditional local browsesession. Prior to the local browse session completing the processing ofall requested resources, the browser may process any user interactionslocally and/or remotely as described in FIGS. 5 and 11.

Once the local browse session has fully obtained and processed resourcescorresponding to the requested content, the computing device 102 maydetermine whether to continue to display results obtained from the NCCPOP 142 (and process user interactions at the NCC POP 142) using thedetermined remote session browse configuration, or switch to processinguser interactions locally. Switching to process user interactionslocally may include replacing a displayed representation of therequested resources based on a processing result obtained from the NCCPOP 142 with a local display of the requested resources. For example, abrowser may display a representation of a Web page corresponding to aprocessing result from the NCC POP 142 (e.g., RDP display informationrepresenting the rendered page) until the browser is finished processingand rendering the Web page locally. The browser may then replace therepresentation from the NCC POP 142 with the locally renderedrepresentation of the Web page. Illustratively, replacing onerepresentation with another representation may be transparent to theuser. For example, the local and NCC POP 142 representations of the Webpage may be identical or substantially identical. In one embodiment,when the NCC POP 142 representation of the web page is displayed, thebrowser may send various user interactions with the displayed page tothe NCC POP 142 for processing. When the locally rendered version of theWeb page is displayed, user interactions may be processed locally at thebrowser. Illustratively, the determination of which representation ofthe requested resources to display (e.g., local or from the NCC POP 142)may be based on any of the same factors described with reference todetermining a remote session browse protocol in above.

In one embodiment, the client computing device 102 may switch toprocessing user interactions locally as soon as local resources arefully loaded. Illustratively, the remote browse session instance runningat the NCC POP 142 may be terminated after switching to localprocessing, or the remote browse session instance may be maintained as abackup in case of unresponsiveness or a failure with regards to thelocal browse session. For example, the client computing device 102 mayprocess user interactions locally, as well as sending remote userinteraction data to the NCC POP 142 in accordance with the selectedremote session browse configuration. The remote user interaction datamay be used by the NCC POP 142 to keep the remote browse sessioninstance fully in parallel with the local browse process being executedby the browser at the client computing device 102. As long as the localbrowse session continues to handle user interactions, the NCC POP 142may either refrain from sending updated processing results, or may sendupdated processing results ignored by the client computing device 102.If a problem develops with the local browse session at the clientcomputing device 102, updated processing results may be provided to theclient computing device 102 from the NCC POP 142 for processing anddisplay in lieu of the local browse session. Illustratively, this switchfrom the local browse session to remote processing may be transparent tothe user. In some embodiments, the client computing device 102 mayswitch from a local browse session to a remote browse session instancebased on factors other than unresponsiveness or failure at the localbrowser. For example, the client computing device 102 or networkcomputing and storage component 107 may select between a remote andlocal browse session based on any of the factors enumerated with regardto determining a remote session browse protocol above.

In another embodiment, the client computing device 102 may continue toprocess and display updated processing results from the NCC POP 142 evenafter the local browse session has fully loaded the requested content.The client computing device 102 may terminate the local browse sessionor may run the local browse session in parallel as a backup process, inthe converse of the example provided above. It should be appreciatedthat although the local browse session is described here, for thepurpose of illustration, as being slower to load than the remote browsesession instance, in some embodiments the local browse session may loadthe content faster than the remote browsing session, in which case thebrowser may process user interactions locally until the remote browseprocess has fully loaded the requested content. In some embodiments, theclient computing device 102 may display and process user interactionsthrough whichever browse session, local or remote, loads the requestedcontent first.

In various other embodiments, the network computing provider 107 mayinstantiate multiple remote browse session instances to run in parallelin addition to, or as an alternative to, instantiating a local browsesession. Illustratively, these parallel browse session instances mayutilize any of the same or different remote session browse protocols,and may act as backups in the manner described above with regard to alocal browse session, or may be used and switched between asalternatives in order to maximize browser performance at the clientcomputing device 102. For example, in response to one or more browsesession requests, the network computing provider 107 may instantiate abrowse session instance running on a first NCC POP and utilizing an RDPprotocol, as well as a browse session instance running on a second NCCPOP utilizing an X-Windows protocol. The client computing device 102 orthe network computing provider 107 may determine which browse sessioninstance and protocol should be used based on performance or resourceusage considerations as described with regard to determining a remotesession browse protocol above.

With continued reference to FIG. 9, at block 918, the network computingprovider 107 may process the obtained content, including the one or morerequested network resources and embedded network resources, according tothe client determined remote session browse configuration to generate aninitial processing result. The network computing provider 107 mayfurther process the obtained content, including the one or morerequested network resources and embedded network resources according tothe determined historical remote session browse configuration togenerate an initial processing result corresponding to a historicalcontent representation. In one embodiment, the network computingprovider 107 may only process the obtained content one time. Forexample, the network computing provider 107 may perform processing stepsspecified by the client remote session browse configuration to obtain afirst processing result, and then may perform any remain processingsteps to obtain the historical content representation, or vice versa.

In one embodiment, the historical content representation may includeadditional information, including, but not limited to, informationassociated with the network resource request, the network resource,content associated with the network resource, the client computingdevice 102, a user, the network computing provider 107 or any otherentity, content, or component. In one embodiment, the historical contentrepresentation may include information associated with a position on abrowsing or navigation path as described below with reference to FIG.13. For example, a second historical content representation may includeinformation specifying that the client computing device followed areference from a first network resource (e.g., corresponding to a firsthistorical content representation) to get to a network resourcecorresponding to the second historical content representation.

In further embodiments, the historical content representation mayinclude any number of types of information including, but not limitedto: an amount of time spent viewing or interacting with contentcorresponding to the historical content representation; notes, markups,or other user generated content or information associated with thehistorical content representation; resource usage or performance metricsassociated with processing of the content corresponding to thehistorical content representation at a network computing provider 107 orclient computing device 102; a latency or other network performancemetric associated with the transmission of the content corresponding tothe historical content representation; a physical or logical locationassociated with the request for the network resource; an identifierassociated with the content corresponding to the historical contentrepresentation; advertisements associated with the content correspondingto the historical content representation; and/or any other type ofinformation. For example, in one embodiment, a user may be provided withan interface for adding notes to a Web page. Illustratively, these notesmay be stored with or included within the historical contentrepresentation of the Web page, along with any other type of informationassociated with the Web page as discussed above.

At block 920, the network computing provider 107 may provide the initialprocessing result to the client for further processing and display inthe content display area of the browser. For the purposes of furtherexample, an illustrative client new browse session interaction routine1000 implemented by client computing device 102 is described below withreference to FIG. 10.

In one embodiment, the network computing provider 107 may determinewhether to refrain from processing content to generate a historicalcontent representation and/or providing the processed historical contentrepresentation to the historical browse storage component based on anynumber of factors. Illustratively, the network computing provider 107may refrain from processing and/or storing a historical contentrepresentation based on factors including, without limitation, any ofthe factors discussed above with reference to determining a remotebrowse session configuration as discussed in block 916, etc. Forexample, the network computing provider 107 may refrain from storinghistorical content representations corresponding to a particular Website or domain on a network. In another example, the network computingprovider 107 may refrain from storing historical content representationsassociated with secure or sensitive information associated with a userof the client computing device 102. In a further embodiment, thedetermination of whether to process or store a historical contentrepresentation may be made by a historical content filter component orservice associated with the network computing provider 107, thehistorical browse storage component, or any other third party.

At block 922, the network computing provider 107 may provide thehistorical content representation to the historical browse storagecomponent. Illustratively, the historical browse storage component maybe configured to store the historical content representation accordingto any system or process known in the art, and may further incorporateany type of data protection, mirroring, caching, etc., as known in theart. A historical content representation may be based on a networkresource as retrieved, or may be based on a network resource with any ofvarious aspects of state data relating to a users interaction with theretrieved network resource. At block 922, the start new browse sessionroutine 900 ends.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrative of a client new browse sessioninteraction routine 1000 implemented by client computing device 102. Newbrowse session interaction routine 1000 begins at block 1002 in responseto an event or user request causing the client computing device 102 toload a browser for viewing network content. At block 1004, the clientcomputing device loads locally managed components of the browser,including all local interface components. As described above withreference to FIGS. 5 and 7, local interface components may includetoolbars, menus, buttons, or other user interface controls managed andcontrolled by the software browser application or any other processexecuting or implemented locally at the client computing device. Atblock 1006, the client computing device 102 provides a request for a newbrowse session instance to the network computing provider 107. From theperspective of the user of the client computing device, the request forthe new browse session corresponds to the intended request to transmitthe request to one or more corresponding content providers 104. In otherembodiments, the new session request may correspond to a request to loada file or other document (e.g., a request to load an image in aphoto-editing application, etc.). Illustratively, the request may begenerated automatically as a result of the browser loading (e.g., arequest for a default or “home” page), or may be generated as a resultof a user following a link or entering a network address into an addressbar. As illustrated with respect to FIG. 2, the browse session requestis transmitted first to a network computing provider 107. In anillustrative embodiment, the network computing provider 107 utilizes aregistration API to accept browse session requests from the clientcomputing device 102.

A browse session request may include any number of pieces of data orinformation including, but not limited to, information associated with auser, information associated with the client computing device 102 orsoftware on the client computing device (e.g., hardware or softwareinformation, a device physical or logical location, etc.), informationassociated with the network 108, user or browser preferences (e.g., arequested remote session browse protocol, a preference list, a decisiontree, or other information), information associated with the networkcomputing provider 107, information associated with one or more piecesof requested network content (e.g., the network address of a networkresource), etc. For example, a browse session request from the clientcomputing device 102 may include information identifying a particularclient computing device hardware specification or a hardware performancelevel, latency and bandwidth data associated with recent contentrequests, a desired security level for processing different types ofcontent, a predetermined preference list of remote session browseprotocols, and one or more network addresses corresponding to requestednetwork resources, among others. In another example, the browse sessionrequest can include information identifying a client computing device102 screen resolution, aspect ratio, or browser display area in thebrowse session request, which may allow the network computing provider107 to customize the processing of network content for display on theclient computing device. As previously described, the browse sessionrequest can include network address information corresponding to arequested network resource, which may be in any form including, but notlimited to, an Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, a URL, a Media AccessControl (“MAC”) address, etc. In one embodiment, the request for a newbrowse session instance may correspond to the network computing providerreceiving a request for a new browse session instance at block 904 ofFIG. 9 above.

At block 1008, the client computing device 102 obtains an initialprocessing result from the network computing provider 107.Illustratively, the format and data included in the initial processingresult may vary based on the remote session browse configurationselected by the network computing provider 107. In one embodiment, theinitial processing result may include or be preceded by data informingthe client computing device 102 of the choice of remote session browseconfiguration and/or establishing a connection over the remote sessioncommunication protocol corresponding to the selected remote sessionbrowse configuration. As discussed above with reference to FIGS. 8 and9, the obtained initial processing result may include requested contentwith one or more processing actions performed by the network computingprovider 107. Subsequent to obtaining the initial processing result, theclient computing device 102 may perform any remaining processing actionson the initial processing result at block 1010.

At block 1012, the client computing device 102 displays the contentcorresponding to the processed initial processing result. For example,the client computing device 102 may display the processed client in thecontent display area 702 of a browser 700 as described in FIG. 7 above.In one embodiment, the processing result may only include display datacorresponding to content displayed by a browser, and may not includedisplay data corresponding to, for example, the interface controls of abrowser instance at the NCC POP 142, the desktop of a virtual machineinstance corresponding to the browse session, or any other userinterface of the NCC POP 142. For example, the NCC POP 142 may process aWeb page and associated content for display via RDP in a browserinstance running in a virtual machine instance at the NCC POP 142. Thebrowser instance may have one or more interface elements such astoolbars, menus, scroll bars, etc., in addition to the displayed Webpage. The NCC POP 142 may send an RDP processing result corresponding tothe displayed Web page only, without any of the interface elementsassociated with the browser. Illustratively, including an RDP processingresult corresponding to the displayed Web page only may allow thebrowser at the client computing instance 102 to display the Web page byassembling the RDP processing result in the content display area of thebrowser without any further processing. In another embodiment, the RDPprocessing result may include a full virtual machine desktop and browserwindow corresponding to the full interface displayed at the NCC POP 142browse session instance. The client computing device may automaticallyidentify the area of the RDP processing result corresponding to therequested content, and may display only this area in the content displayarea of the browser.

At block 1014, the client computing device 102 processes local andremote user interactions. An illustrative routine for processing userinteractions is provided below with reference to FIG. 11. At block 1016the routine ends. Illustratively, a browse session instance instantiatedby the network computing provider 107 may terminate when a browserwindow or content display area is closed, may terminate when a remotesession browse protocol is replaced by a parallel process at the clientcomputing device 102, or may terminate in accordance with a timer orother event. Illustratively, if a browse session has terminatedautomatically due to a time-out, but has associated content stilldisplayed in a browser at the client computing device 102, laterattempts by the user to interact with the content may result in a newbrowse session request being provided to the network computing provider107 to start a new browse session according to the last state of theterminated session. Illustratively, terminating a remote browse sessionafter a time-out may allow the network computing provider 107 to savecomputing resources at the NCC POP. In one embodiment, this process maybe transparent to the user at client computing device 102, even thoughthe remote browse session has been terminated during the interveningperiod.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrative of a process user interactionroutine 1100 implemented by a client computing device 102. Process userinteraction routine 1100 begins at block 1102 in response to aninteraction by a user. Illustratively, process user interaction routine1100 may begin subsequent to the display of content in a content displayarea of a browser interface. For example, process user interactionroutine 1100 may correspond to block 1014 of FIG. 10 above.

Illustratively, the displayed content may have one or more interactiveelements, such as forms, buttons, animations, etc. User interaction withthese interactive elements may require processing and display of updatedcontent in the content display area. For example, selecting an elementin a drop-down menu on a Web page may require processing and may changethe configuration or visual appearance of the Web page or embeddedresources. Illustratively, the processing required by user interactionwith the displayed content may be handled as a local user interaction atthe client computing device 102, or as a remote user interaction at theNCC POP 142, depending on the remote session browse configuration inuse. For example, if a remote session browse configuration utilizingsubstantial local processing (e.g., sending unprocessed files over HTML)is utilized, user interactions with displayed content may typically behandled as local user interactions at the client computing device 102.Illustratively, handling user interactions with displayed content aslocal user interactions at the client computing device 102 may allow forbetter responsiveness and fewer delays with simple user interactions(e.g., selection of a radio button, or typing text into a field), asinteraction data corresponding to the interaction does not need to besent to the NCC POP 142 for processing.

As a further example, if a remote session browse configuration utilizingheavy remote processing of content (e.g., sending processed bitmap dataover RDP) is being used as the remote session browse configuration, alluser interactions with displayed content may be handled as remote userinteractions. For example, user input (e.g., keyboard inputs and cursorpositions) may be encapsulated in RDP protocol data units andtransmitted across network 108 to the NCC POP 142 for processing.Illustratively, the NCC POP 142 may apply the user interactions to thenetwork content and transmit processing results consisting of updatedbitmaps and interface data corresponding to an updated representation ofthe content back to the client computing device 102. Illustratively,handling user interactions with displayed content as remote userinteractions at the NCC POP 142 may have a negative impact on interfaceresponsiveness, as data is required to pass over the network and islimited by network latency; however, user interactions that require asubstantial amount of processing may perform better when handled asremote user interactions, as the processing latency of the NCC POP 142may be substantially lower than the processing latency of the clientcomputing device 102.

In addition to a content display area for displaying network content, abrowser may have one or more local interface components, such astoolbars, menus, buttons, or other user interface controls. Interactionswith local interface components may be treated as local userinteractions or remote user interactions depending on the processingrequired by the interaction and the remote session browse configuration,as further depicted in illustrative FIG. 7. For example, some localinterface components may be managed locally by browser code running onthe client computing device, while other local interface components mayhave one or more locally managed aspects (e.g., button click feedback,scroll bar redraw, etc), and one or more remotely managed aspectstreated as remote user interactions (e.g., page refresh, requesting apage at an address in an address bar, etc.).

At block 1104, the client computing device 102 obtains a userinteraction from the user. This user interaction may be an interactionwith local interface components as described above and with reference toFIG. 7, or may be an interaction with any interactive elements of thecontent displayed in the content display area of the browser, such asform fields, buttons, animations, etc. User interaction with these localinterface components or interactive elements of displayed content mayrequire local and/or remote processing, depending on the nature of thecomponent or element and the processing split specified by the remotesession browse configuration as described above and with reference toFIG. 7. At block 1106, the client computing device 102 determines theinteraction processing requirements for the obtained user interaction.At decision block 1108, if the user interaction has local aspects (e.g.,button click feedback, a change to a local browser state, a contentelement being processed at the client computing device, etc.), theroutine 1102 moves to block 1110 to process the local aspect or aspectsof the user interaction at the client computing device 102 andsubsequently update the local interface components at block 1112.Illustratively, and as discussed above, aspects of the interaction andupdating interface components and elements locally allows a browser toprovide responsive user interfaces and content. Subsequent to processinglocal aspect(s) of the user interaction, or if the user interaction hasno local elements (e.g., a user interaction with a content elementdisplayed in the content display area when using a remote session browseconfiguration processing entirely on the server side and utilizing anRDP remote session communication protocol) the routine 1102 moves todecision block 1114. If the user interaction has remote aspects thatrequire processing, the routine 1102 moves to block 1116 and providesremote user interaction data to the network computing provider 107.Illustratively, in the case of a heavily server side remote sessionbrowse configuration utilizing an RDP remote session communicationprotocol, the remote user interaction data may include input data suchas a cursor position or keyboard input encapsulated in one or more RDPprotocol data units. In some embodiments of remote session browseconfigurations utilizing RDP or other remote session communicationprotocols, particular aspects of remote user interaction data, such ascursor positions, may be provided to the network computing provider 107on a continuous basis, while in other embodiments of remote sessionbrowse configurations, remote user interaction data may only be providedto the network computing provider 107 when associated with a userinteraction that requires remote processing.

At block 1118, the client computing device 102 obtains an updatedprocessing result from the network computing provider 107, the networkcomputing provider 107 having processed the remote user interaction datato generate an updated representation of the content. At block 1120, theclient computing device 102 performs any additional processing requiredon the updated processing result (based on the remote session browseconfiguration), and at block 1122 displays the updated processing resultin the content display area of the browser. At block 1124 the processuser interaction routine 1102 ends. Illustratively, the routine may beexecuted again any number of times in response to further userinteractions with the browser and displayed content.

With reference to FIG. 12, a block diagram of the content deliveryenvironment of FIG. 1 illustrating the generation and processing of anew historical content request from a client computing device 102 to anetwork computing provider 107 will be described. The process can beginwith the generation and processing of a historical content request froma client computing device 102 to a network computing provider 107.Illustratively, this request may be generated automatically as a resultof a search for historical content, as described with reference to FIG.15 below, or may be generated as a result of a user following areference to a piece of historical content, selecting historical contentfrom a list or tree diagram, or in response to any other userinteraction or system or browser request. For example, in one embodimenta first user may provide a reference such as an identifier or networkaddress information corresponding to a historical content representationto a second user at a client computing device 102. Illustratively, thehistorical content representation may correspond to a Web page or othernetwork resource previously accessed or viewed by the first user. Withregards to this example, the client computing device 102 may process thereference to generate a historical content request.

Returning to FIG. 12, subsequent to the client computing device 102generating or obtaining a historical content request, the historicalcontent request may be transmitted first to a network computing provider107. In an illustrative embodiment, the network computing provider 107utilizes a registration application program interface (“API”) to accepthistorical content requests from the client computing device 102. Thehistorical content request can include an identifier or network addressinformation corresponding to a historical content representation, whichmay be in any form, including, but not limited to, an alphanumeric codeconsisting of any combination of characters, an Internet Protocol (“IP”)address, a URL, a Media Access Control (“MAC”) address, etc. Thehistorical content request may further include information identifying auser, browser, client computing device 102, and/or any other browsingentity.

Subsequent to the receipt of the browse session request, the networkcomputing provider 107 may identify a historical browse storagecomponent based on any combination of the identifying information andidentifier or network address information corresponding to thehistorical content representation in the browse session request. In oneembodiment, the network computing and storage component may process theidentifying information or request additional information from theclient computing device 102 to determine that the client computingdevice 102 is authorized to request the historical contentrepresentation.

Illustratively, and for the purposes of example with regard to FIG. 12,we may assume that the network computing provider identifies ahistorical browse storage component implemented at a NCC POP 142. Asdiscussed above, a historical browse storage component may, in variousembodiments, be implemented, associated, and/or provided by anycombination of devices and/or entities. In one embodiment, the NCC POP142 may provide historical remote session browse configurationinformation to the client computing device 102 related to theforthcoming transmission and processing of the requested historicalcontent representation.

The NCC POP 142 may provide the requested historical contentrepresentation to the client computing device on the basis of thehistorical remote session browse configuration information. Thehistorical content representation may correspond to requested historicalcontent, such as a Web page. In one embodiment, the historical contentrepresentation may include representations of any embedded resourcesassociated with the historical content (e.g., embedded content on therequested Web page). In another embodiment, the historical contentrepresentation may contain embedded references to other historicalcontent representations associated with embedded content for retrievalby the client computing device 102. Subsequent to receiving thehistorical content representation, the client computing device 102 mayperform any remaining processing actions on the initial processingresult as required by the historical remote session browseconfiguration, and may display the fully processed content in a contentdisplay area of a browser.

In another embodiment, a historical content request may correspond to arequest to delete or otherwise remove a historical content result. Forexample, a client computing device 102 may provide a request to delete ahistorical content result from storage. Illustratively, responsive tothe request to delete the historical content result, the networkcomputing and storage provider 107 and/or NCC POP 142 may delete thespecified historical content result from one or more data stores and/ordelete an association between the client computing device 102 orassociated user and the historical content result.

With reference to FIG. 13, a branch diagram illustrative of a networkresource navigation path 1300 will be described. Illustratively, asdescribed above, a client computing device 102 may obtain and displayrepresentations of network content such as network resources 1302-1314.In one embodiment, one or more of network resources 1302-1304 mayinclude one or more references to other network resources. For thepurposes of a specific example, network resource 1302 may, in oneembodiment, be a Web page with a number of hyperlinks to other Webpages. In one embodiment, a user may follow a reference from a networkresource from a browser to obtain a representation of the referencednetwork resource. As discussed above, each network resource 1302-1314may be associated with one or more same or different remote browsesessions at the network computing provider 107.

Illustratively, a user may sequentially follow a link in a browser atclient computing device 102. For example, a user may click a link at arepresentation of network resource 1302 that may cause the browser toreplace the representation of network resource 1302 in the contentdisplay area of the browser with a representation of network resource1304. In this manner, the user may sequentially browse through networkcontent. Illustratively, we may refer to this chain of references as abrowsing path or navigation path. For example, the user may follow asequential navigation path by viewing a representation of networkresource 1302, followed by network resource 1304, followed by 1306, andfollowed by 1308.

In another embodiment, a user may follow a link in parallel to asequential navigation path 1302-1308. For example, a user may follow alink on a Web page to open up a new tab, frame, window, or otherorganizational grouping on a browser at client computing device 102.Accordingly, a user may follow a reference from a network resource 1304to open a new tab displaying a representation of network resource 1312,and may subsequently sequentially follow a reference to a networkresource 1314. As another example, a user may follow a reference from anetwork resource 1306 to open a new tab displaying a representation of anetwork resource 1310.

In one embodiment, a historical browse storage component may obtain andstore data allowing the recreation of logical browse paths such as thebrowse path depicted for purposes of illustration in FIG. 13. In oneembodiment, references followed to and/or from a piece of content may bestored with a historical content representation corresponding to thecontent. In another embodiment, a historical browse storage componentmay independently maintain a reference and/or path associated with ahistorical navigation path.

Illustratively, a browser at a client computing device 102 may, in oneembodiment, have an interface control or function that allows thedisplay of a historical browse path. Illustratively, a historical browsepath may be displayed as a branch or tree diagram as depicted here forpurposes of illustration, a list, a table, or in any otherrepresentation as known in the art. In one embodiment, referencesbetween network resources or representations of the network resourcesthemselves may be displayed with visual indications of a type ofcontent, the appearance of one or more search terms, a previously viewedstatus, a popularity based on the viewing behavior of other users, orany other characteristic or related aspect of information.

With reference to FIG. 14, a branch diagram illustrative of a networkresource navigation path 1400 depicting network resource referencelevels will be described. Illustratively, as described above withreference to FIG. 13, a user browsing network content at a clientcomputing device 102 may follow references between network resources ina navigation path. In one embodiment, each network resource may have anynumber of references to other network resources. As described withreference to FIG. 9, a network computing and storage component 107 orhistorical browse storage component may be configured to retrieve andstore representations of network resources directly or indirectlyreferenced by a network resource requested by a client computing device102.

For the purpose of illustration, a user at a browser at client computingdevice 102 may browse network resources in a browse path from networkresource 1402 to network resource 1406 to network resource 1418 tonetwork resource 1430. In one embodiment, representations of each ofthese network resources 1402, 1406, 1418, and 1430 may be stored andindexed at a historical browse storage component. Each network resource1402, 1406, 1418, and 1430 may reference any number of other networkresources, such as one or more of network resources 1404, 1408, 1416,1420, 1432, and 1434. Illustratively, network resources 1404, 1408,1416, 1420, 1432, and 1434, directly referenced by requested networkresources 1402, 1406, 1418, and 1430, may be referred to as a firstlevel of references or a first level of referenced network resources.Network resources 1410, 1412, 1422, 1424, and 1436 referenced by thefirst level of referenced network resources 1404, 1408, 1416, 1420,1432, and 1434 may be referred to as a second level of references or asecond level of referenced network resources. Accordingly, networkresources 1414, 1426, and 1428, referenced by the second level ofnetwork resources 1410, 1412, 1422, and 1424, may be referred to as athird level of references or a third level of referenced networkresources, etc.

In one embodiment, subsequent to having representations of one or morelevels of referenced network resources stored at a historical browsestorage component, a user at a client computing device 102 may be ableto view the representations of one or more levels of the referencednetwork resources in a browser or application. Illustratively, levels ofreferenced network resources from a historical browse path may bedisplayed as a branch or tree diagram, as depicted here for purposes ofillustration, a list, a table, or in any other representation as knownin the art. In one embodiment, references between network resources orrepresentations of the network resources themselves may be displayedwith visual indications of a type of content, the appearance of one ormore search terms, a previously viewed status, a popularity based on theviewing behavior of other users, or any other characteristic or relatedaspect of information.

With regard to FIG. 15, a user interface diagram depicting anillustrative historical browse search interface 1500 is described. Inone embodiment, the search interface 1500 may be accessible from abrowser running on client computing device 102, or any other applicationor service. Various aspects of functionality corresponding to the searchinterface 1500 may be provided by any number of different softwareapplications, network components, and/or service providers through oneor more interfaces, APIs, browser plugins, or other means of access. Inone embodiment, the search interface 1500 may allow a user to search forhistorical content representations stored at a historical browse storagecomponent and corresponding to past viewed and/or referenced networkresources.

Illustrative search interface 1500 may include fields for searching anynumber of characteristics of stored historical content representationsor corresponding network resources. Fields for searching characteristicsof stored historical content representations may include, but are notlimited to, a text search field 1502, and a date search field 1504. Invarious other embodiments, the search interface 1500 may further includemeans (not shown) for searching based on any combination of contenttype, specific browse session, software browser, user, metadata, tags,or any other characteristic associated with a network resource.

The illustrative search interface 1500 may include a browsing devicesearch field 1506 for specifying a client computing device originallyused to view the network resource. For example, a user may originallyhave viewed and/or requested a network resource on his home computer.The user may subsequently search for a historical content representationof the network resource filtering the results by content that heoriginally viewed on his home computer. Illustratively, a clientcomputing device may be identified in any number of ways as known in theart, including, but not limited to, identification by a MAC ID or IPaddress, a serial number, a browser cookie, and/or any number ofidentifiers associated with client computing device hardware orsoftware. In one embodiment, one or more alternate identifiers (e.g.,descriptions, names, icons, etc.) may be associated with one or moredevices in order to allow a user to easily specify a particular device.

The illustrative search interface 1500 may further include a locationsearch field 1508 for specifying a location at which a network resourcewas originally viewed or requested. In various embodiments, the locationsearch field may allow a user to enter a physical or logical location.Illustratively, search results may be filtered for content that wasoriginally viewed at the specified location. In one embodiment, one ormore alternate identifiers (e.g., descriptions, names, icons, etc.) maybe associated with one or more physical or logical locations in order toallow a user to easily specify a particular location. In otherembodiments, a user may enter any number of other location identifiers,including, but not limited to, Global Positioning System (GPS)coordinates, latitude and longitude, address, IP address, networkdomain, etc.

Illustrative search interface 1500 may further include a control 1510for searching based on a specific historical content representation ornetwork resource. For example, in one embodiment, a user may right-clickon a historical content representation or a representation of a networkresource displayed in a browser and select a search based on pageoption. Illustratively, identifying information for the network resourceprovided in the control 1510 may be accompanied by a network resourcepreview 1514 or other representation of the network resource in thesearch interface 1500. Illustratively, a search based on a page mayreturn historical content representations associated with any number ofcharacteristics or information shared or similar to the searched page.These characteristics or information may include text content, dates,content types, a browse session in which the network resource wasencountered, tags, metadata, user ID, a browser, a client computingdevice, a common sequential or parallel navigation path, etc. Forexample, illustrative search interface 1500 may further include anavigation path results control 1512. Illustratively, the navigationpath results control 1512 may allow a user to filter search results byhistorical content representations of content originally in the samenavigation path as a network resource or historical contentrepresentation selected in control 1510. In one embodiment, the user mayfilter the search results for historical content representations ofcontent either prior or subsequent to the selected network resource orhistorical content representation in a navigation path.

Although not shown here for purposes of clarity, the illustrative searchinterface 1500 may further include an option or control allowing a userto restrict or filter results to past versions of a page selected incontrol 1510. For example, a user may have visited a Web page dedicatedto breaking news a number of times in the past. Accordingly, the Webpage may have contained different information each time it was viewed.Illustratively, the user may choose to limit a search to storedhistorical content representations of past versions of the Web page inorder to find a specific story or news item.

Illustrative search interface 1500 may further include a control 1512allowing a user to select between returning only historical contentrepresentations and returning a mix of historical contentrepresentations and current content from the network (e.g., a currentWeb search). In one embodiment, a depth of search field 1514 may allow auser to specify how many levels of referenced network resources tosearch, as discussed above with reference to FIGS. 9 and 14. Forexample, zero levels may indicate that the search should only returnhistorical content representations corresponding to actually viewednetwork resources.

Still further, illustrative search interface 1500 may include arecommended results control 1516 for specifying that only recommendedresults should be returned by a search. In one embodiment, recommendedresults may correspond to historical content representations of networkresources that have been ranked highly by other users, by a networkcomputing and storage component 107, by the user at client computingdevice 102, by the historical browse storage component itself, or anyother entity. In a further embodiment, recommended results may be basedon the browsing behavior of past users.

Illustrative search interface 1500 may further include an unseen resultscontrol 1518 for specifying that only unseen results should be returnedby a search. Illustratively, selecting this option may cause the searchto return only historical content representations corresponding toreferenced network resources (e.g., up to a level of referencesspecified in control 1514 above), and not to display historical contentrepresentations corresponding to network resources that the clientcomputing device 102 actually displayed (e.g., network resources on auser's historical browse path).

Although not depicted here for purposes of clarity, illustrative searchinterface 1500 may further include one or more controls or userinterface options allowing a user to filter by a number of times anetwork resource or other piece of content has been viewed by a user orclient computing device in the past. Illustrative search interface 1500may still further include one or more controls or user interface optionsallowing a user to search by an amount of time spent viewing orinteracting with a network resource or other piece of content.Illustrative search interface 1500 may still further allow a user tofilter search results by a dominant color or color scheme, anassociation or inclusion of one or more advertisements in a networkresource or piece of content, an association or inclusion of one or morepieces or types of embedded content in a network resource, or any othertype of search filter or term.

While illustrative embodiments have been disclosed and discussed, oneskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that additional oralternative embodiments may be implemented within the spirit and scopeof the present invention. For example, the techniques described hereinmay be utilized, without departing from the scope of the presentinvention, to allow remote processing management in any number of othersoftware applications and processes, including, but not limited to,image or video editing software, database software, office productivitysoftware, 3d design software, audio and sound processing applications,etc. Additionally, although many embodiments have been indicated asillustrative, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that theillustrative embodiments do not need to be combined or implementedtogether. As such, some illustrative embodiments do not need to beutilized or implemented in accordance with the scope of variations tothe present disclosure.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments, or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Any process descriptions, elements, or blocks in the flow diagramsdescribed herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should beunderstood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions ofcode which include one or more executable instructions for implementingspecific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternateimplementations are included within the scope of the embodimentsdescribed herein, in which elements or functions may be deleted,executed out of order from that shown or discussed, includingsubstantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on thefunctionality involved, as would be understood by those skilled in theart. It will further be appreciated that the data and/or componentsdescribed above may be stored on a computer-readable medium and loadedinto memory of the computing device using a drive mechanism associatedwith a computer readable medium storing the computer executablecomponents such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or network interface; further, thecomponent and/or data can be included in a single device or distributedin any manner. Accordingly, general purpose computing devices may beconfigured to implement the processes, algorithms, and methodology ofthe present disclosure with the processing and/or execution of thevarious data and/or components described above.

It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may bemade to the above-described embodiments, the elements of which are to beunderstood as being among other acceptable examples. All suchmodifications and variations are intended to be included herein withinthe scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:obtaining a historical content representation from a network computingprovider, wherein the historical content representation comprises ahistorical version of a content item previously requested by a clientcomputing device, and wherein the historical content representationincludes information corresponding to a historical navigation pathincluding the content item previously requested by the client computingdevice; obtaining a search request from the client computing device,wherein the search request from the client computing device isassociated with one or more search terms; and providing, to the clientcomputing device, search results based on the search terms, wherein thesearch results include at least the historical content representation.2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the content itempreviously requested by the client computing device comprises a Webpage.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the searchterms include a segment of text, a date, a content type, a browsesession identifier, a user identifier, a browser identifier, a clientcomputing device identifier, or a tag.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein a second representation of the content itempreviously requested by the client computing device is displayed at theclient computing device.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the information corresponding to the historical navigation pathincludes information associated with a reference accessed by the clientcomputing device or a network resource including a reference accessed bythe client computing device.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the search results correspond to content included in thehistorical navigation path.
 7. A system for managing content comprising:one or more computer processors; at least one computer memory accessibleby at least one of the one or more computer processors; and a networkcomputing component comprising an executable software module executed bythe one or more computer processors, wherein the network computingcomponent is operable to: obtain a search request from a clientcomputing device, wherein the search request from the client computingdevice is associated with one or more search terms; and provide searchresults corresponding to one or more historical content representationsto the client computing device, the search results based at least partlyon the one or more search terms, wherein each of the one or morehistorical content representations is associated with informationcorresponding to a historical navigation path uniquely associated withthe client computing device, the historical navigation path including acontent item corresponding to the respective each of the one or morehistorical content representations.
 8. The system of claim 7, whereinthe information corresponding to the historical navigation path includesan identifier identifying at least one of a reference followed by theclient computing device to access a content item corresponding to thehistorical content representation and a network resource including thereference followed by the client computing device.
 9. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the search results include search results correspondingto current network content.
 10. The system of claim 7, wherein the oneor more historical content representations correspond to content itemsincluded in a historical navigation path associated with a firsthistorical content representation.
 11. The system of claim 10, whereinthe content item included in a historical navigation path associatedwith a first historical content representation comprises a content itemincluded in the historical navigation path subsequent to the firsthistorical content representation.
 12. The system of claim 7, whereinthe one or more historical content representations correspond to one ormore historical versions of a first network resource.
 13. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the network computing component is further operable todetermine the search results based on a search request from the clientcomputing device.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the networkcomputing component is further operable to determine the search resultsbased in part on at least one of a segment of text, a date, a contenttype, a browse session identifier, a user identifier, a browseridentifier, a client computing device identifier, and a tag.
 15. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the network computing component is furtheroperable to determine the search results based at least in part on acolor composition of each of the one or more historical contentrepresentations.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the networkcomputing component is further operable to determine the search resultsbased at least in part on a number of times that content correspondingto each of the one or more historical content representations has beenrequested.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein the network computingcomponent is further operable to determine the search results based atleast in part on an amount of time spent viewing content correspondingto each of the one or more historical content representations.
 18. Acomputer-implemented method for managing content comprising: obtainingsearch request from a client computing device, wherein the searchrequest from the client computing device is associated with one or moresearch terms; and providing, based at least partly on the one or moresearch terms, search results corresponding to one or more historicalcontent representations to the client computing device, wherein each ofthe one or more historical content representations is associated withinformation corresponding to a historical navigation path including therespective each of the one or more historical content representations,the historical navigation path uniquely associated with the clientcomputing device.
 19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18,wherein the information corresponding to the historical navigation pathincludes an identifier identifying at least one of a reference followedby the client computing device to access content corresponding to thehistorical content representation and a network resource including thereference followed by the client computing device.
 20. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the search resultsinclude search results corresponding to current network content.
 21. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the one or morehistorical content representations correspond to content included in ahistorical navigation path associated with a first historical contentrepresentation.
 22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, whereinthe content included in a historical navigation path associated with afirst historical content representation comprises content included inthe historical navigation path prior to the first historical contentrepresentation.
 23. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, whereinthe one or more historical content representations correspond to one ormore historical versions of a first network resource.
 24. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 18 further comprising determiningthe search results based at least in part on an association between afirst advertisement and each of the one or more historical contentrepresentations.
 25. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 furthercomprising determining the search results based at least in part on atleast one of a physical and a logical location associated with a requestfor content corresponding to each of the one or more historical contentrepresentations.
 26. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 furthercomprising determining the search results based at least in part on anumber of times that content corresponding to each of the one or morehistorical content representations has been requested.
 27. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 26 further comprising determiningthe search results based at least in part on a number of times thatcontent corresponding to each of the one or more historical contentrepresentations has been requested by at least one of the clientcomputing device and a user associated with the client computing device.28. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 further comprisingdetermining the search results based at least in part on a number oftimes that content corresponding to each of the one or more historicalcontent representations has been requested by users not associated withthe client computing device.
 29. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 18 further comprising determining the search results based atleast in part on an amount of time spent viewing content correspondingto each of the one or more historical content representations.